Regular Coaches' Biographies—Spring 2018
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REGULAR COACHES’ BIOGRAPHIES—SPRING 2018 Pianist NOBUKO AMEMIYA has built a reputation as a dynamic and versatile collaborator; her playing is described as “soaring with a thrilling panache, and then with great warmth and suppleness.” (Valley News, VT) Equally committed to vocal and instrumental chamber music, she traveled three continents to give recitals and concerts with numerous renowned conductors and soloists such as Seiji Ozawa, James Conlon, Brian Priestman, James Dunham, Colin Carr, Rober Spano, and Lucy Shelton. An enthusiastic advocate of new music, Ms. Amemiya has worked with and performed music by many of today’s leading composers, including John Harbison, George Crumb, Bright Sheng, Oliver Knussen and George Benjamin. Ms. Amemiya engaged in various music festivals throughout the world, including Festival de Música da Figueira da Foz in Portugal, Britten-Pears Institute at Aldeburgh Music Festival, International Institute of Vocal Arts in Italy, Festival de Musique Lausanne in Switzerland, Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood Music Center where she was awarded Tanglewood Hooton Prize, acknowledging the “extraordinary commitment of talent and energy.” She earned prizes and awards at international competitions, including “Vittorio Gui” in Florence, Italy, the Munich International Music Competition, Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, Manhattan School of Music President’s Award, Aldeburgh Music Festival Grant, SongFest Faculty Award and OperaNorth Special Recognition Award. Ms. Amemiya studied with distinguished artists such as Claude Frank, John Perry, Margo Garrett, Rita Sloan, Abbey Simon, and Emmanuel Ax, and holds double DMA degrees in Solo Piano and Collaborative Piano Performances. Also active as a coach and educator, she worked for AIMS in Graz, Opera North, Aspen Music School, IIVA in Italy, Bronx Opera, Garden State Opera, Grinnell College, New England Conservatory and University of Kansas. Ms. Amemiya currently works for the Manhattan School of Music, Palazzo Ricci Akademie für Musik in Montepulciano, Italy, Lotte Lehmann Akademie and Lyric Opera Studio Weimar in Germany, and is a music director of the enCANTA Collective in New York City. Accompanist/vocal coach, KARINA AZATYAN, extensively collaborates with leading figures of vocal art in United States, Europe and Israel. She has developed original method of coaching singers in Russian language based on knowledge of Italian, German, French and English IPA. On a stage Ms. Azatyan was heard in concerts with soloists from New York City Opera, New Israeli Opera, Kirov Opera House, Bolshoj Theater, Vienna State Opera House and many others. Among many distinguished artists Ms. Azatyan worked with and for are Oksana Krovytska, Dimitri Kavrakos, Richard Troxell, Angela Brown, Veronica Villaroel, Arthur Levy, Rita Shane, Catherine Malfitano, Maria Cleva (UK), Dan Ettinger (Israel), Robert Cowart, Nico Castel, James M. DeBlasis, Ljuba Kazarnovskaya (Russia), Charlie Ricker, Paolo Montarsolo (Italy), Bruno Rigacci (Italy), Svetlana Sandler (Israel), John Norris and Marc Verzatt. Ms. Azatyan has accompanied master classes with such artists as Vera Rozsa, Sherrill Milnes, Diana Soviero, Fedora Barbieri, Licia Albanese, Anna Moffo, Lucine Amara, Lauren Flanigan, Rashel Shulova, Michael Cordovana, Mignon Dunn, Martin Isepp, Martin Katz, Brian Zeger and John Wustman. She has served as accompanist and language coach for Opera Lyra in Ottawa, Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Virginia Opera, New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera, Israel Vocal Arts Institute, Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy, Brooklyn College Opera Theater. Ms. Azatyan holds a Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music in Accompanying, a Master’s Degree from the Brooklyn College, and Artists Diploma from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Piano Solo Performance where she also studied church organ and harpsichord. Her teachers include Warren Jones, Yelena Kurdina, Yevgeny Shenderovitch, Alexander Tamir, Yelena Galustova, Yelena Kaminskaya and Rashel Shulova. The Opera Insider wrote about Zarzuela concert in Carnegie Hall: “We must mention the excellent piano work of Karina Azatyan who was particularly fine accompanying Ms.Belaval in Turina’s soulful Saeta en forma de salve a la virgen de la esperanza.” 2014 The Berkshire Review for the Arts wrote about the Carnegie Hall concert: “the excellent piano accompaniment of Karina Azatyan…..” 2008 CORY BATTEY is a vocal coach and pianist hailing from the Pacific Northwest. Most recently, Cory served on the music staff of Palm Beach Opera, where he coached the young artists, led classroom lectures, and accompanied their productions. Cory has also been busy as a répétiteur around the country, and he spent this past season working on productions with Portland Opera, Opera Omaha, Wichita Grand Opera, and Hubbard Hall Opera. Last summer, Cory returned to Opera in the Ozarks for his fifth season, marking his second season as senior vocal coach. Prior to this, Cory has had opportunities to work with several major opera companies throughout the country, including Sarasota Opera, Nashville Opera, Kentucky Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, and Shreveport Opera. Cory has also enjoyed the privilege of working with aspiring opera singers, helping to coach young artists at the University of Memphis, Brevard Music Center, Seagle Music Colony, and the Astoria Music Festival training programs, in addition to his work with Opera in the Ozarks. This is Cory's first year joining the Manhattan School of Music coaching staff. 1 FÁBIO BEZUTI, pianist and vocal coach has performed at numerous international opera festivals and has given recitals in Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, the U.S. and Switzerland. He served as the musical director and pianist for Charles Wuorinen’s opera, Haroun and the Sea of Stories (based upon the book by Salman Rushdie) and as the conductor in a recent production of the A Dinner Engagement by Lennox Berkeley in São Paulo, Brazil. He has prepared a diverse array of challenging pieces ranging from Ravel’s L'enfant et les Sortilèges to Wagner's Ring Cycle for the Amazon Theater in Brazil. Mr. Bezuti is the music director and current conductor of a project in São Paulo that brings opera to underprivileged children and families in the region. For over 3 seasons, they have performed La Serva Padrona in Portuguese for around 5 to 6 thousand people. Currently, Mr. Bezuti is a collaborative pianist and vocal coach at Manhattan School of Music, and has been performing recitals in New York, Philadelphia and other major U.S. cities. Mr. Bezuti studied with distinguished pianists Dalton Baldwin, Thomas Muraco, Ted Taylor and J.J. Penna. TRAVIS BLOOM is a sought after accompanist and coach in NYC. With a passion for the vocal arts, Mr. Bloom’s coaching platform is based on musical accuracy, performance practice techniques, dramatic integrity, diction accuracy, and vocal health in alignment with the Bel Canto school of singing. In 2012, Travis was an M.M. Voice Performance student at the illustrious Jacobs School of Music where he also studied accompanying/opera coaching with Kevin Murphy. The following year, he joined the Indiana University Ballet and Opera Theater music staff as pianist/coach for Rossini's Italian Girl in Algiers, Menotti's The Last Savage, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and J. Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. While at IU he accompanied numerous voice recitals, master classes, competitions, auditions, and opera workshop productions. Prior to coaching at IU, he worked as the chorus master for the Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival (2010-2012) training opera choruses for Bizet's Carmen and Verdi's La Traviata. In the summer of 2015, Mr. Bloom served as the staff pianist for the Sankt Goar International Music Festival and Academy in Germany where he was also selected by casting director, Andreas Geier, to accompany auditions at the Baden-Baden Opera House. More recently, Travis served as a staff pianist for the Bronx Opera company and is the music director of Faith Lutheran Church in Syosset, NY. This past summer, he served as a pianist with the International Vocal Arts Institute under the direction of Joan Dornemann and Paul Nadler and was the faculty coach for Joan Patenaude-Yarnell’s summer voice institute in NYC. JEREMY CHAN is an Australian pianist and vocal coach based in New York City. Recent engagements include the 2017 China tour of Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber, appearances with the American String Quartet, Hector del Curto Quintet, Choirs of America, and productions with Loft Opera (Otello, Le Comte Ory), Alarm Will Sound/ Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (The Hunger), Aspen Opera Center (A Wedding), Opera Upper West (La Voix Humaine). Mr. Chan was the official pianist for the Aspen Opera Center New York City auditions. An active advocate for contemporary music, Mr. Chan has been involved in the world premieres of pieces by Yehudi Wyner, Frank Lerdahl, Bruce Saylor, Z. Randall Stroope, René Clausen and appears on Bright Sheng’s upcoming release on the NAXOS label, while his own compositions have earned him recognition from the Fellowship of Australian Composers. Mr. Chan received degrees from Queens College, Manhattan School of Music and additional training at the Georg Solti Accademia, Tanglewood Music Center, Toronto Summer Music Festival Academy and the Vancouver International Song Institute. MIRIAM CHARNEY – refer to MSM faculty bios at à http://www.msmnyc.edu/FacultyBio Brazilian pianist and voice coach, MOZART DE OLIVEIRA is a highly sought-after musician. Enjoying a multi- faceted career, he has performed at Avery Fisher Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall as well as concert halls throughout Europe, the Middle East and South America. His students sing in major opera houses around the world, including the Vienna Staatsoper, Berlin Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera House, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera and San Jose Opera. As part of the faculty at Boston Conservatory, Mr. de Oliveira worked as a vocal coach before relocating to New York where he worked for several seasons as the assistant chorus master at New York City Opera.